Wednesday, February 01, 2006

A poem

1Being a teenager sucks !byRobert L FieldingSomeone asked me about the problems teenagers have. Maybe it's different now. Maybe teenagers have different kinds of problems. Maybe I've forgotten what it's like being 17. I'm sure I have, but I can take a stab at it, can't I ? Being a teenager is good, being a teenager is the best!But sometimes being a teenager is the worst, being a teenager sucks!Mums and Dads, they think they know everything and we know nothing.When in fact, hey, surprise, surprise, it's sometimes the other way round.They don't know how we feel, they don't know what we like.They just think they do, just because they were teenagers once.Yeh, yeh, back in the 1960s. I mean, what do they know ?Teenagers get spots, teenagers get bad grades, teenagers get into trouble.But that's nothing, really nothing, everybody goes through it.At least that's what they tell you, over and over and zzzzzzz.Everybody thinks they've got the right to tell you stuff over and over.Your parents tell you stuff over and over. Your big brother tells you stuff over and over.Teachers tell you stuff over and over. Grown-ups tell you stuff over and over.And that's the biggest laugh of all…grown-ups, who are they kidding?Like they know everything, right? Like everything's hunky-dory, right?Like the ozone layer's intact, there's no such thing as the greenhouse effect,The Amazon rainforest is still there, everything's fine.And it's all down to grown-ups like them two.Couch-potatoes, and them still only forty something.Full of received opinions, canned, straight from a newspaper, or the TV.Nice, clear cut answers to the World and all its complicated problems.Nice convenient answers about us, based on nothing but prejudice.Based on, "We know best. How can you know anything? You're only 17."And it's us who are made to think we know nothing.And that's what really sucks2We've heard it all before!byRobert L Fielding

Right, I've listened to what you have to say, now just you listen to what I''ve got to say, then maybe we can both learn something about each other.

Everybody makes the same mistakes everybody else makes.I used to think I knew everything when I was your age.You think you know everything now.But you'll soon find out how little you know.That looking for certainty in life is a total waste of time.Sure, some things are timeless and never change.Everything else is changing so fast. So that the only thing that you can rely on is change.It's probably best to admit that you don't know everything.And that way, you can learn.Insisting that you know everything is the end of everything.To get through this thing we called life, Having an inquiring mind helps.And remembering that there are some things you do know.Now go away, be quiet, and let me be.Pick up a book, and learn something you thought you already knew.It's not that difficult at your age.

The two pieces above are concerned with youth and knowledge. Which one do you think gets nearest to how you feel? Why do you identify with one closer than the other? What do you think that says about you? Discuss each point of view with your neighbour? Has your position changed?3Pulling it all togetherbyRobert L Fielding

That's how everything seems…at first, and for a while there.Two generations that don't understand each other, and don't want to.Pulling in different directions, agreeing to disagree.Refusing to acknowledge any common ground.Guarding their positions, denying the other.And not just denying, but refuting, ridiculing and debasing.

What will it take to pull them closer? Death?A reconciliation that is only waiting for time.But the rebellious of today are the prudent of tomorrow.Realising that the incompatible positions of only a moment ago,Sit perfectly well together when the axes of youth are put down,And the doctrines of age are laid to rest.Remembering that we are basically the same helps too.

So, now where do you stand? You've got to come down on one side or the other don't you?Or do you? Is it really that simple? Is it all black and white, or is there some white stuff in the black, and some black stuff mixed in with the white? Grey is a dull colour..sometimes, but sometimes it's the best colour there is. Robert L Fielding